Google is getting into the emerging market for solar-powered drones, competing with rival Facebook, as the two Internet companies look for new ways for get more of the world’s population online.

Google Monday said it agreed to buy Titan Aerospace, a startup that is building drones it hopes will fly for years using the power of the sun. Facebook was in talks with the firm earlier this year, but ended up buying another startup in the same field, called Ascenta.

The idea is to get a fleet of these unmanned aircraft circling the globe and then beam a wireless Internet service down from the heavens.